This invention relates to new and useful improvements in animal traps and although this particular trap is designed specifically for use in trapping muskrats, mink and the like, nevertheless it will be appreciated that it can readily be adapted for use in the trapping of other animals.
Prior art traps suffer from several disadvantages, particularly when used with animals such as muskrats and mink, these disadvantages including difficulty in adapting same for placement across an area through which the mink or muskrat would normally swim or run, and, in certain circumstances, difficulty in adjusting the sensitivity of the release mechanism.
Another disadvantage of the prior art traps is the fact that the springs normally operating same, are at their weakest at the killing zone and sometimes do not kill efficiently. If stronger springs are used to ensure sufficient striking power at the killing zone, then the traps are often difficult to set and sometimes dangerous to set.
Prior art traps known to the applicant and which include these faults are Canadian Pat. No. 250,548 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,996,691; 2,068,656; 1,850,534; 370,700; 3,146,545; 2,894,353 and 1,247,171.